Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of employees have transitioned to remote work as companies comply with government-issued health protocols. For many organizations, this meant setting up processes and systems that allow employees to carry on with their responsibilities at home. This required using appropriate technology that can help businesses get the most value from remote work. If you are managing a team of work-from-home employees, here's a guide to help you achieve greater productivity and communication using the right tools.
1. Develop training modules
If your employees are not used to working out of office, you will need to train them how to use tools such as Zoom, Asana, and Basecamp. You might also want to develop custom project management software, so you will need to create walkthroughs and tutorials for that as well. At the end of the day, the key to a successful transition lies in how well you educate your employees about the tools that will benefit your organization as the remote persists.
2. Highlight data security
Cyber threats are becoming more apparent as companies digitize their workflows and employees to access sensitive files from their homes. When you have numerous employees working outside of company premises, the risk of data leakage, sabotage, and theft becomes greater. It’s important to make sure your organization acknowledges all security factors. This would require the use of tools that analyze traffic and detect suspicious behavior at the app level. It also helps to set up protocols for authorizing remote access as well as setup failsafe measures in case of breaches.
3. Improve your enterprise infrastructure
Even as your employees work from home, you will still need to invest in maintaining and enhancing your network infrastructure. Then again, what are the advantages of improving your wireless system and upgrading your data centers in the middle of this crisis? The simple answer is that you need to accommodate higher volumes of data coming from different sources. You also need to secure your business from costly virus and malware infection. You might want to allow certain members of your IT team to work in-house in order to keep all your systems up and running, upgrade security features, as well as improve connectivity for employees who are working within company premises.
4. Invest in cloud-based solutions
If your business has yet to deploy a strategy for utilizing the cloud, it’s the perfect time to do so. There has been a mass exodus towards scalable cloud services that enable companies to increase efficiency and security. Software-as-a-service like Google Drive and Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) have proven to be integral in managing remote employees and accelerating workflows. Adopting these platforms as part of your remote operations should help you stay resilient throughout (and even beyond) the pandemic.
Business continuity is possible even during a time of crisis. You need to understand the tools that add value to remote work and implement a strategy that maximizes the cost of transitioning to this new setup.
